Industrial Relations (IDRL) 308
Occupational Health and Safety (Revision 6)

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Delivery Mode: Individualized study online
Credits: 3
Area of Study: Applied Studies (Business and Administrative Studies). This course can also be used as a Social Science by credential (degree) students only.
Prerequisite: None
Faculty: Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
Human Resources & Labour Relations Home Page
IDRL 308 has a Challenge for Credit option.
Overview
Industrial Relations 308: Occupational Health and Safety is a three-credit, senior-level course that examines issues of worker health and safety (and life and death) within their political and economic contexts and in the workplace. Over the past three decades, the field of occupational health and safety has grown and developed, and an extensive amount of scientific and technical knowledge on the subject has accumulated. Nevertheless, conflicts among practitioners and scholars on even the most basic questions still persist. These disagreements are driven by inherent differences in interest and power between workers and employers (or labour and capital, if you will), which together form the conditions of industrial relations. Scientific arguments often disguise the real debate, which concerns the value attached to preserving the life and health of workers in the workplace. Occupational health and safety cannot be examined without also considering the power dynamics that operate both within and around the job.
Outline
- Unit 1 – Occupational Health and Safety: An Introduction
- Unit 2 – Hazards and Control
- Unit 3 – Workplace Interventions
- Unit 4 – Health and Safety in Practice
Evaluation
To receive credit for IDRL 308, you must complete two online quizzes and two written assignments, write a final examination, achieve a minimum grade of D (50%) or better on the final examination, and obtain an overall grade of at least D (50 percent) on the entire course. The weighting of the composite course grade is as follows:
Activity | Weighting |
---|---|
Telephone Quiz | 10% |
Two Online Quizzes (10% each) | 20% |
Two Written Assignments (15%; 25%) | 40% |
Final Examination | 30% |
Total | 100% |
The final examination for this course must be taken online with an AU-approved exam invigilator at an approved invigilation centre. It is your responsibility to ensure your chosen invigilation centre can accommodate online exams. For a list of invigilators who can accommodate online exams, visit the Exam Invigilation Network.
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.
Course Materials
Textbooks
Foster, J., & Barnetson, B. (2016). Health and safety in Canadian workplaces. Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press. (online PDF)
Other Resources
All other materials are also available to students online; including a study guide.
Challenge for Credit Overview
The Challenge for Credit process allows you to demonstrate that you have acquired a command of the general subject matter, knowledge, intellectual and/or other skills that would normally be found in a university-level course.
Full information about Challenge for Credit can be found in the Undergraduate Calendar.
Challenge Evaluation
To receive credit for the IDRL 308 challenge registration, you must achieve a grade of at least D (50 percent) on the examination.
Online Examination
Undergraduate Challenge for Credit Course Registration Form
Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized-study counterparts.
Opened in Revision 6, September 6, 2017.
View previous syllabus